Soul Mates
by GAforevermerder
Summary: Maybe one day we will be ready to start a new life on earth, and maybe we will find each other again because I truly believe that this is not our first adventure together. I think that our souls will always find a way back to each other. Maybe in every life we find the same people all over again. Rudy has always watched over Liesel.


I may have died. My body may be buried deep, but I still see Earth. I see Liesel, because my love for her won't ever die.

The day he took me away, I stood beside Liesel as she hunched over my body—sobs racking her body, never ending sobs.

When she kissed me I felt it on my lips somehow. It was perfect. Everything about The Book Thief is perfect. I wanted to badly to kiss her back, to joke with her and laugh. I wanted to tell her that I love her too—but I won't ever leave her, not really.

Because Liesel has taken hold of me, and no matter what she will be a part of me and I will be there for her—forever.

I am the one who led Max to find her after the war, and he believed it was simply a miracle. It was my miracle; Liesel needed a miracle because she was losing will to live.

I watched as she and Max collapsed on the floor in one another's arms—they stayed like that for thirty minutes. "Papa is dead, mama is dead," I heard Liesel sob. My soul so very badly wanted to hold her, tell her everything one day will be okay. To rock her back and forth and tell her that I love her so much, that she is my best friend.

"I know," was all Max replied with as he wiped away a tear from her face. Her hair was long now, and her eyes dimmer—but she was beautiful as always.

"Rudy, he…he died, he never even got his kiss," Liesel sobbed.

That's what broke my heart—her desperation for me. "I'll always love you," I wanted to say.

But she didn't know that I got her kiss, even though I was gone. "What has happened to this world?" Max asked her in desperation, Rudy could see that Max saw her hurt—understood it.

"I hope they're somewhere beautiful, not in the middle of these worn torn streets, full of the grieving," Liesel sobbed.

"We have to believe they are. We have to. We also have to believe that they are in a place where the sun shines and the roads are not war torn. You have to believe that Liesel," Max whispered to her in desperation that day.

I would like to say Liesel's heartbreak went away, but it didn't—it just got worn down with time.

I sent her a blonde hair boy with green eyes that would steal her heart.

I saw how worthy his soul was and I knew that Liesel needed someone like him. So maybe there are soul mates, but not in the way we think, maybe angels—heavenly souls—put them in each other's lives. That's what I did. My love for Liesel was so strong. I sent her a boy full of warmth and compassion. I sent her a war-torn boy. So I guess I created a love story of a broken war-torn boy and a broken war-torn girl. But that's how much I wanted her to be happy again.

"You remind me of the first boy I loved," Liesel told him the first day they met on a train, both headed west. Liesel was supposed to be going east that day.

The boy gave her a smile. "Does that mean you could love me?" he asked.

"I couldn't see myself loving anyone as much as I loved Rudy, but I can try," Liesel said truthfully.

"I couldn't see myself loving anyone as much as my Lillian either," the boy said.

And that was it. They got married—and Max walked Liesel down the aisle. I so badly wanted to be the one who married her, but the man she was marrying was everything I could ask for Liesel.

I watched Liesel age. Her kids were so beautiful—all three, boys and a girl. The eldest was named Hans—he was a gracious boy that loved to read. The middle, a bright-eyed girl was named Lillian-Rosa—her fierceness was something of a miracle. The youngest was a lighthearted, lemon haired boy named Rudy. Liesel told this boy about Jesse Owens and how to play soccer in the street, she eventually told him the story of me and how much I meant to her.

They all grew up to do great things, but it was Rudy that I loved—I suppose that I saw so much of him in me. I saved him from death more than once. I suppose I was his guardian angel. He has five kids now; one is named Jesse another named Owen.

Liesel died an old lady—the way people should die. A piece of me wanted to die with her, but I died all those years ago. When I saw her soul she was bright—the brightest soul I've ever seen.

She was fifteen again, and I of course am the same age I died at. "Rudy?" she asked luminously.

"Yes," I answered.

"I left my family, my husband," she said, I did not know if she meant it as a question or a fact.

"They'll all come one day, Max is here too, but I was sent to greet you after you greeted death himself," I said to her.

Liesel touched my face, and my hair. "I've always loved you," she said to me warmly—if she could cry here I could tell she would've. "You have the same hair as my son," she said as she ran her hand through my hair. It sent shivers down soul.

"I know," I replied simply.

"You've always been there haven't you?" she asked with a smile.

I loved her smile. "Yes," I said truthfully.

"Sometimes, I thought I could feel your soul and it made me feel a little freer—lighter," Liesel admitted.

"I never left you, you're my best friend—love of my life," I said as I looked into her eyes, seeing them shine for the first time since the bombing that took so many she loved.

"You sent me to my husband, that was you that day I lost my ticket and took the wrong train," Liesel said.

"Of course," I said.

It was then her lips touched mine, I felt light and whole. She may have been married on earth, but she truly belonged with me. Just like her husband had someone he once lost and belonged to—someone by the name of Lillian. Because no matter how much you love someone, there could always be someone you love more—you can't shake their spirit or light, they own you. "I love you," Rudy finally said to her. "I love you, The Book Thief."

"You know I've always loved you. Is it happy here?" asked Liesel.

"It's warm and there is no war. But it's never been heaven without you," I admitted.

"I'm here," Liesel said to him calmly.

Maybe one day we will be ready to start a new life on earth, and maybe we will find each other again because I truly believe that this is not our first adventure together. I think that our souls will always find a way back to each other. Maybe in every life we find the same people all over again. Maybe in this other life my life won't come to an end because of one man who destroyed a everything. I believe that we will always find each other.

But for now, it's not bad here. Liesel is with me. Max is here and so are Hans and Rosa. My family is here, as well as my father. For now, we're together again—not really alive, but together. One day we will descend to earth and find each other all over again.

But for now the light shines, and Liesel is here and she is beautiful. Our souls are light and free from the burden of death.

**Finished the book and had to write this…let me know what you think!**


End file.
